Designation for wines of exceptional quality in connection with the visualisation of celestial bodies. There are always special vintages due to complex causes. These include, for example, an unconditional prerequisite of optimal weather conditions within a vegetation cycle. Due to widespread superstition, a connection between the occurrence of comets and special wine vintages was assumed in the past. Wines produced in such years were therefore called "comet wines".
The best-known example is the 1811, which is often mentioned in Germany. In that year, a comet named C/1811 F1, discovered by Honoré Flaugergues (1755-1830), appeared. It is one of the three largest comets to date, with a tail length of well over 100 million kilometres. There is a picture of it where the comet can be seen above Ratz Castle near the municipality of St. Goar. Johann W. von Goethe (1749-1832) also reported on this wine, which he had purchased from the Bassermann-Jordan winery. This was indeed a so-called century wine (see a list there).
For my many years of work as an editor with a wine and culinary focus, I always like to inform myself about special questions at Wine lexicon. Spontaneous reading and following links often leads to exciting discoveries in the wide world of wine.
Dr. Christa Hanten
Fachjournalistin, Lektorin und Verkosterin, Wien